August 16, 2024
Colleagues,
The key to Wagner College’s success is ensuring that our students are supported and cared for.
In the world of higher education where we have dedicated ourselves to the professional pursuit of doing so, this is an easy thing to say. Unfortunately, it is not always so easy to execute.
We live in times of great change. Students today face obstacles both large and small that prior generations did not. From mental health challenges, to deciphering truth in an online world of disinformation and artificial intelligence, to navigating the bureaucracy of an institution, today’s students need assistance to achieve their goals — and to help them achieve those goals, we as a college community need assistance as well.
Last week at an open house, I told prospective students and their families that one of the distinguishing characteristics of Wagner College is that "we care more." It’s a bold promise as much as it is a call to action. We must do more to help our students — and we will.
When I became president in July, one of the first things I did was establish several collaborative working groups. In the Student Experience group we identified several campus cultural issues that are making it difficult at times for students or their parents to find answers, get issues resolved, or even find the right office to speak with. At an institution at which, I have noted several times, we are individually and collectively “stretched,” we are sometimes unable to be fully attentive to students as they navigate multiple areas on campus to get things done. As someone new to the campus I can see how this is frustrating our students as much as it is frustrating all of us who are here to help them.
My goal is to harness the best part of our drive to be supportive and bolster the cross-collaboration necessary to get the results our students need — and that we want to provide them. To do so we must, as I wrote last week, “become more responsive to what students and society are seeking as well as innovative enough to enhance how we deliver on our mission.”
With that as our charge, and with building a better student support system as a focus, I am pleased to announce the creation of an initiative that provides a direct connection between our students and the institution broadly, as opposed to one office at a time, where a single point of contact can help a student or their families get answers and solutions to problems.
This initiative — Network Ensuring Seahawks Thrive (NEST) — is meant to signal that students and their families have a place to go that will be supportive and to help them. It will supplement but not replace existing student services and is a meaningful next step in our efforts to distinguish ourselves as a caring community.
The NEST is designed to enhance the overall Wagner experience by addressing the diverse needs of students and their families and support systems. By fostering open communication channels and developing a tailored support system, the NEST aims to ensure that every student has a place to go to raise questions and concerns and seek assistance.
The NEST purposefully sits outside all the offices now dedicated to helping our students, to ensure students have a place to talk openly about their challenges. For offices and programs continuing to support our students, this initiative will help streamline some of the more difficult student issues that come your way and will help convene various offices to address challenges.
The goal is not to create an extra step for students who are already getting great service from offices across campus. The NEST will help students and their families when their challenges and concerns aren’t easily addressed.
Finally, and perhaps equally as important for Wagner, a single point of contact will be able to collect data, see trends, and identify policies and procedures we can collaboratively seek to make stronger.
In furtherance of these priorities, I have appointed current Director of Residential Education Reilly Schaefer Deputy Chief of Staff for Student Support, to oversee the NEST. She is a 2018 graduate of Murray State University who earned an MBA at Wagner in 2022.
Reilly, who has worked on Wagner’s campus life team full-time since January 2019 has already exhibited the ability to work across different parts of the organization and collaborate with various offices, and has illustrated her doggedness in pursuit of our students’ success.
She will spearhead this critically important new initiative, and as part of the President’s Office, play a campus leadership role in ensuring student success is foremost in our thinking and planning. She is empowered as my representative to expeditiously find resolutions for students and parents who have questions or challenges, or who simply need assistance navigating the bureaucracy that is so often part and parcel of a higher education institution.
Students and families can reach the NEST at (718) 420-4444 and TheNest@Wagner.edu. I urge everyone to keep this contact information handy.
Faculty and staff who cannot render immediate assistance should refer student questions and concerns to the NEST, and of course cooperate to their fullest ability when Reilly reaches out on my behalf.
I ask all members of the Wagner community to work with Reilly as we build upon the work of our campus to help students. The success of the NEST is dependent on each of us bringing a new level of responsiveness to the needs of our students.
I thank you all for your continued work on behalf of our students. And I look forward to seeing all of you as they move in and classes start.
Best,
Jeff